UCL Round of 16: Coman hands 10-man Bayern Munich win over below-par PSG

Kingsley Coman punished his former side for the second time in three years as he helped Bayern Munich secure a 1-0 first-leg win over Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc Des Princes. The German giants picked up an impressive win over their underwhelming French counterparts away from home.

With both sides having met twice since the 2020 UEFA Champions League final where Coman scored in a 1-0 win for Bayern Munich, the occasion promised to be a great one as an underperforming PSG side, on their worst run of form in a long time, came up against another of the tournament’s favourites. Les Parisiens were without talismanic forward Kylian Mbappe, who was only fit enough to start from the bench, and Lionel Messi passed a late fitness test to start alongside Neymar. It was always going to be a tall order for the French side in front of their fans.

As expected, Bayern Munich started the more active of both sides, dominating play and creating chances without converting them. PSG looked lethargic by their standards and struggled to create any problems for the visiting side. The French champions failed to record a single shot in the first half of the encounter as they struggled to bring Messi and Neymar into the game.

The match was sparked into life just eight minutes into the second half as Alphonso Davies, who was introduced in place of Joao Cancelo, floated a cross which was met at the far post by Coman on the volley. The French winger declined to celebrate out of respect for his boyhood club as he put Bayern Munich ahead.

In response to falling behind, PSG boss Christoph Galtier turned to his bench and introduced Mbappe for Carlos Soler in the 57th minute. The superstar injected a new lease of life in the French champions and thought he had drawn them level with their first real chance of the game in the 73rd minute. The 24-year-old was sent through on goal but failed to beat Yann Sommer in the Bayern goal. The rebound fell to Neymar, who also saw his effort stopped by the veteran Swiss goalkeeper before an offside Mbappe bundled the ball into the net in vain.

There was time for Mbappe to score a second offside goal in the dying moments after he turned home a low cross from Nuno Mendes, but the Portuguese left-back was marginally offside in the build-up to the goal, and the VAR ruled out the effort. Two minutes later, Benjamin Pavard made a goal-saving block after Messi’s effort seemed destined to nestle in the back of the net.

There was time for late drama as Pavard received two late bookings to earn him a red card, ruling him out of the second leg. With their stars hopefully back fit, PSG will be looking to secure a comeback in a bid to rescue their European aspirations.